WUPJ Library

Rabbi Stan Zamek | United Jewish Congregation, Hong Kong And of all that lives, of all flesh, you shall take two of each into the ark to keep alive with you; they shall be male and female. From birds of every kind, cattle of every kind, every kind of creeping thing on earth, two of […]

Rabbi Dan Moskovitz | Temple Sholom in Vancouver, Canada One Yom Kippur, a rabbi was warning his congregation about the fragility of life. “One day everyone in this congregation is going to die,” he thundered from the bimah. Seated in the front row was an elderly woman who laughed out loud when she heard this. Irritated, […]

Rabbi Dr. Rena Arshinoff, PhD | Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Ontario, Canada We are commanded to rejoice during Sukkot. The holiday of Sukkot is filled with traditions and symbolism. We partake in dwelling in the sukkah, shaking the four species, giving thanks for the harvest, expressing joy, inviting others, and showing hospitality. While […]

Rabbi Mark Dov Shapiro, Rabbi Emeritus Sinai Temple, Springfield, Massachusetts Once upon a time – when I was in college – I had a friend who was the classic renegade. It was the late 1960’s and he was full of passionate disdain for the political leaders of the day and for the War in Vietnam. […]

Rabbi Mark Dov Shapiro, Rabbi Emeritus Sinai Temple, Springfield, Massachusetts Here’s the amazing truth.  Wherever you are around the globe as you read these words and look at the moon, you will see what I see in New England.  A small crescent.  A while sliver.  It’s a “new moon” for all of us, but it’s […]

Rabbi David A. Kunin, Jewish Community of Japan, Tokyo, Japan Sporting endevours are often more than just a metaphor for religion but are powerful in their own right.  For Americans and especially the Japanese, baseball has a power all its own, where the stadiums are cathedrals and the games religious rites.  Likewise, Sumo, with its […]

Rabbi James Bennett, Congregation Shaare Emeth, St. Louis, Missouri, USA From the moment I awaken, I emerge from silence into sound.  I am inundated by sound. We all are. The noise of our alarms, the whir of the fan in our air conditioner or heater, the buzz of the electricity in our lights, the water […]

Rabbi Linda Henry Goodman | Union Temple of Brooklyn, New York, USA The Book of Deuteronomy is, in effect, the “swan song” of Moses, as he stands with Joshua and the Israelites on the bank of the Jordan River.  As the Torah draws to a close, and along with it, our calendar year, we read […]

Rabbi Menno ten Brink | Liberal jewish Congregation of Amsterdam, The Netherlands When reading Parashat Shoftim I am back in time. I find myself again at Leo Baeck College in London, where I studied some 30 years ago to become a rabbi. In the meantime, I find myself in my 26th year in the rabbinate […]

Rabbi Uri Lam | Temple Beth-El, São Paulo, Brazil “See, this day I set before you blessing and curse.” (Deut. 11:26) Last week I met four young Jews with the intention of creating a new group in my congregation for young adults. One of their very first positions is that religious activities must come together […]

Rabbi Neal I. Borovitz Parshat Ekev teaches us a transcendent lesson of Jewish living. Long before day-planners, computers and smart phones, with calendars and apps that reminder us constantly of what we are supposed to be doing, the Rabbinic interpretation of the Torah enabled Jews to schedule our lives, “by Jewish time” and thereby remind […]

Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld| Congregation Albert, Albuquerque, New Mexico Va’etchanan begins with Moses’ lamenting to the people that because of his action of disobeying God at the Waters of Bitterness God punished him by not allowing him to enter the land of Canaan (see Parashat Chukat, Num. 20.) Moses would not see his efforts beginning in […]